Jump to content

1852 United States presidential election

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1852 United States presidential election
← 1848 November 2, 1852 1856 →
296 members of the Electoral College
149 electoral votes needed to win
Turnout69.5%[1] Decrease 3.3 pp
 
Nominee Franklin Pierce Winfield Scott
Party Democratic Whig
Home state New Hampshire New Jersey
Running mate William R. King William A. Graham
Electoral vote 254 42
States carried 27 4
Popular vote 1,604,167 1,385,255
Percentage 50.8% 43.9%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Pierce/King and Yellow by Scott/Graham. Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes cast by each state.

The 1852 United States presidential election was the 17th election in the history of the United States. It occurred on November 2, 1852. This election was between the Democratic nominee, Senator Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire and the Whig nominee, Commanding General of the US Army Winfield Scott of New Jersey. Pierce won the election with 254 electoral votes. Scott got only 42 electoral votes.

This was the last election to put up a Whig nominee as they broke up in 1854 and was replaced by the Republican Party

Nominees

[change | change source]

Democratic Party

[change | change source]

The Democratic Party selected Franklin Pierce, the former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire as their nominee. Pierce was not a well known politician. William R. King, the U.S. senator from Alabama, was selected as Pierce's running mate.

1852 Democratic Party ticket
Franklin Pierce William R. King
for President for Vice President
U.S. Senator
from New Hampshire
(1837-1842)		 U.S. Senator
from Alabama
(1819–1844, 1848–1852)

Presidential

[change | change source]
Dark horse candidates
[change | change source]
  • Franklin Pierce, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire (1837-1842) (nominee)
  • Henry C. Murphy, former Congressman from New York (1843-1845, 1847-1849)
Major candidates
[change | change source]
Minor candidates
[change | change source]
  • William O. Butler, former Congressman from Kentucky (1839-1843) (1848 VP Nominee)
  • Joseph Lane, house delegate from the Oregon Territory (1851-1859) (1860 Southern Democratic VP Nominee)
  • Sam Houston, U.S. Senator from Texas (1846-1859) and 1st & 3rd President of the Republic of Texas (1836-1838, 1841-1844)
  • Henry Dodge, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (1848-1857)
  • Daniel S. Dickerson, former U.S. Senator from New York (1844-1851) (declined)

Vice Presidential

[change | change source]
  • William R. King, U.S. Senator from Alabama (1819–1844, 1848–1852) (Vice presidential nominee)
  • Solomon W. Downs, U.S. Senator from Alabama (1847-1853)
  • John B. Weller, U.S. Senator from California (1852-1857)
  • David Rice Atchison, U.S. Senator from Missouri (1843-1855) (President for one day from Mar. 4-5, 1849)
  • Gideon J. Pillow, Major General of the U.S. Army (1848-1861)
  • Robert Strange, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina (1836-1840)
  • William O. Butler, former Congressman from Kentucky (1839-1843) (1848 VP Nominee) (Declined)
  • Thomas J. Rusk, U.S. Senator from Texas (1846-1857) (Declined)
  • Jefferson Davis, U.S. Senator from Mississippi (1847-1851, 1857-1861) (Declined)[a]
  • Howell Cobb, 40th Governor of Georgia (1851-1853) (Declined)

Whig Party

[change | change source]

The incumbent president was Millard Fillmore, who succeeded Zachary Taylor as president after Taylor's death in July 1850. Fillmore was associated with Whig Party. Fillmore did not get the nomination again. Instead, the Whigs chose General Winfield Scott of New Jersey.

This happened because Fillmore strongly enforced the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850,[2][3][4] which caused many Northern Whigs to turn against him. As a result, Fillmore became the first U.S. president to lose his party’s nomination for another term.

He was also the first of five presidents to face this. The others were Franklin Pierce in 1856, James Buchanan in 1860, Andrew Johnson in 1868, and Chester A. Arthur in 1884.[b]

1852 Whig Party ticket
Winfield Scott William A. Graham
for President for Vice President
3rd
Commanding General of the
U.S. Army
(1841–1861)		 20th
Secretary of the Navy
(1850–1852)

Presidential

[change | change source]

Vice Presidential

[change | change source]
  • William A. Graham, 30th Governor of North Carolina (1845-1849) (Vice presidential nominee)
  • James Pierce, U.S. Senator from Maryland (1843-1862)
  • Edward Bates, former Congressman from Missouri (1827-1829)
  • John W. Crockett, former Congressman from Tennessee (1837-1841) (Son of former Congressman David "Davy" Crockett)

Notes

[change | change source]
  1. ↑ Davis would later be elected for a one-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America on February 18, 1861. On February 22, 1862, Davis was elected full time to the position, which he held until the end of the CSA on May 5, 1865
  2. ↑ John Tyler had attempted to run for re-election in 1844, but had failed. However, he was kicked out of the Whig Party in September 1841 and remained an Independent, thus not running with a party, making this claim true

References

[change | change source]
  1. ↑ "National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present". United States Election Project. CQ Press.
  2. ↑ "The Fugitive Slave Laws and Boston (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
  3. ↑ "Millard Fillmore and the Fugitive Slave Act: Controversies and Consequences". www.usahistorytimeline.com. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
  4. ↑ Fillmore, Millard (1850). Constitutionality and Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law.
Retrieved from "https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1852_United_States_presidential_election&oldid=10656427"